In an electrical connection box, internal circuits are generally constructed of busbars punched from a conductive metal plate. An electrical connection box is known in which internal circuits are composed of wires and cramping terminals in order to provide flexibility for accommodating design changes in the internal circuits.
In connection boxes of this type, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, cramping terminals 2 are mounted in casing 1 which can be the lower casing and/or the upper casing thereof. Wires 3 are arranged in casing 1 while being pressed into cramping terminals 2 to form an electrical connection therewith (see Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 6-24324). Wires 3 are normally arranged according to a desired pattern using wire laying head 5 of a wire laying apparatus (see FIG. 10).
However, if wire 3 being fed from head 5 is to be located on the inner surface of upper or lower casing 1, it cannot be laid in the hatched area of FIG. 11 due to interference of head 5 with side wall 1a projecting from the outer periphery of casing 1. In other words, head 5 cannot place wire 3 closer to side wall 1a than distance L; thus, the space for wire arrangement is reduced. Therefore, in order to form desired circuits, the entire connection box must be enlarged.
To solve this problem, in the prior art, a mold for arranging wires 3 is provided separately, and the wires are arranged in the desired pattern using the usual wire laying apparatus. Thereafter, casing 1, with cramping terminals therein, is placed adjacent the mold, and the arranged wires are pressed into casing 1 to thereby make the desired electrical connections with cramping terminals 2.
However, in this case, there are problems such as poor working efficiency because of the wire transferring step and increased production cost because of the need to prepare a multitude of wire arrangement molds in conformity with different arrangement patterns.